Mark 15:1

Jesus Brought Before Pilate

15:1 Early in the morning, after forming a plan, the chief priests with the elders and the experts in the law ¹  and the whole Sanhedrin tied Jesus up, led him away, and handed him over to Pilate. ² 

Mark 15:16-20

Jesus is Mocked

15:16 So ³  the soldiers led him into the palace (that is, the governor’s residence) ⁴  and called together the whole cohort. ⁵  15:17 They put a purple cloak ⁶  on him and after braiding ⁷  a crown of thorns, ⁸  they put it on him. 15:18 They began to salute him: “Hail, king of the Jews!” ⁹  15:19 Again and again ¹⁰  they struck him on the head with a staff ¹¹  and spit on him. Then they knelt down and paid homage to him. 15:20 When they had finished mocking ¹²  him, they stripped him of the purple cloak and put his own clothes back on him. Then ¹³  they led him away to crucify him. ¹⁴ 

[15:1]  ¹ tn Or “and the scribes.” See the note on the phrase “experts in the law” in 1:22.

[15:1]  ² sn The Jews most assuredly wanted to put Jesus to death, but they lacked the authority to do so. For this reason they handed him over to Pilate in hopes of securing a death sentence. The Romans kept close control of the death penalty in conquered territories to prevent it being used to execute Roman sympathizers.

[15:16]  ³ tn Here δέ (de) has been translated as “So” to indicate that the soldiers’ action is in response to Pilate’s condemnation of the prisoner in v. 15.

[15:16]  ⁴ tn Grk “(that is, the praetorium).”

[15:16]  ⁵ sn A Roman cohort was a tenth of a legion, about 500-600 soldiers.

[15:17]  ⁶ sn The purple cloak probably refers to a military garment which had the color of royal purple, and thus resembled a king’s robe. The soldiers did this to Jesus as a form of mockery in view of the charges that he was a king (cf. 15:2).

[15:17]  ⁷ tn Or “weaving.”

[15:17]  ⁸ sn The crown may have been made from palm spines or some other thorny plant common in Israel. In placing the crown of thorns on his head, the soldiers were unwittingly symbolizing God’s curse on humanity (cf. Gen 3:18) being placed on Jesus. Their purpose would have been to mock Jesus’ claim to be a king; the crown of thorns would have represented the “radiant corona” portrayed on the heads of rulers on coins and other artifacts in the 1st century.

[15:18]  ⁹ tn Or “Long live the King of the Jews!”

[15:19]  ¹⁰ tn The verb here has been translated as an iterative imperfect.

[15:19]  ¹¹ tn Or “a reed.” The Greek term can mean either “staff” or “reed.” See BDAG 502 s.v. κάλαμος 2.

[15:20]  ¹² tn The aorist tense is taken consummatively here.

[15:20]  ¹³ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.

[15:20]  ¹⁴ sn See the note on Crucify in 15:13.